It was far from a relaxing fall break for the women’s ice hockey team. Princeton (3-4 overall, 3-2 ECAC Hockey) opened league play with three wins in five games, only losing 5-1 to No. 2 Cornell (6-1, 4-0) and 5-2 to Quinnipiac (7-4-1, 2-3). In their other three games, the Tigers beat Colgate (3-7, 1-3) 2-0, Rensselaer (3-6-2, 2-2) 2-1 and Union (1-9, 0-4) 3-2 in overtime.The team’s first victory of the season came against Colgate on Oct. 29.
Sophomore goalie Cassie Seguin stopped all 23 shots she faced to pick up her first shutout of the season. Two other Tigers captured some of their own firsts, as freshmen forwards Sally Butler and Denna Laing both scored their first career goals.Butler also picked up the game-winning goal in the Tiger’s two other wins, including the overtime winner against Union. Butler leads the team with three goals, while Laing, junior forward and co-captain Paula Romanchuk, and sophomore forward Corey Stearns each have two goals on the season.
Princeton’s newcomers have been integral parts of the team’s performance this season.
“All five freshmen have been very good. We are happy to have them,” head coach Jeff Kampersal ’92 said.
Although the Tigers lost to Cornell in the following game, they took away some valuable lessons.
“Despite the 5-1 score, I thought our game against Cornell was the best we’ve played thus far this year,” Romanchuk said last week. “We learned a lot about our team and how we can compete with anyone if we play for the full 60 minutes.”
When asked about the team’s opening weeks of ECAC Hockey play, Kampersal admitted the team would “like to have the Quinnipiac game back.”
In that game, Princeton jumped to an early 2-0 lead before the Bobcats stormed back with five straight goals, ultimately winning 5-2.
“Our Quinnipiac game was a tough one,” Romanchuk said. “I don’t think we played well as a group and I think a lot of people had off games individually. After games like that, you just need to learn from it and then move forward.”
As students returned to campus this weekend, the Tigers traveled to upstate New York to take on Rensselaer and Union. The all-freshman line of Laing, Sally Butler and Olivia Mucha accounted for both of Princeton’s goals as the team downed Rensselaer on Friday.
Seguin also had another strong performance, yielding only one goal on 22 shots.It took all of regulation and a minute of overtime for the Tigers to defeat Union on Saturday. After falling down 2-0 after the first period, Princeton forced overtime thanks to two goals from Stearns, who tied the game at 2-2 with barely two minutes left on the clock. Stearns topped off her three-point day with an assist on Butler’s overtime game-winning goal.
Perhaps worrisome for the Tigers, Seguin was taken out of the game late in the second period for undisclosed reasons. Seguin had only allowed two goals on 21 shots, so it is unlikely that she was pulled for playing poorly. Kampersal would not comment on a possible injury.
Junior goalie Rachel Weber patrolled the crease for the remainder of the game, stopping all seven shots she faced. It was Weber’s first action of the season.
In all, Kampersal was content with the way the team played over fall break.
“The ECAC is so tough,” he said. “We will take the six points.”
The team’s busy season continues next weekend with two home games at Baker Rink. The Tigers will put their two game-winning streak on the line against Dartmouth (3-1, 3-1) on Friday and Harvard (2-1-1, 2-1-1) on Saturday.
“The team is excited to get back on the ice and compete,” Romanchuk said. “We realize it’s a long season and there are still a lot of points on the line for us to win.”
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